I saw that some months ago and my first concern also was a bouncing snare. I would have to pass on this one. When I was young I had a cheap snare stand that wobbled and hated it. I would use a concrete birdbath stand if I could. Weebles are made to wobble not snare stands.

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Less than 300 days until retirement.
Gretsch Renown

Worth the investment? According to Kenny Aronoff it is: "When you compare the sound of the same snare drum on Tama's system and a standard snare stand, the difference is immediately apparent," says the session master. "Since the Air-Ride doesn't clamp the bottom of the snare drum, the sound of the bottom head completely opens up. Also, the Air-Ride absorbs more of the impact of rim shots. That's a big improvement on having most of the impact absorbed by your arms, hands, and wrists. With the new more affordable 1998, 2002 and now 2008 Air-Ride, it's like flying first class for the price of coach. Has anyone 'ever' seen Aronoff use it publicly?

The first run had the early star cast system which ment you had to use a compatible Tama rim .

02' they felt sorry for consumers (and low sales) and redesigned AR with the clips, opening up SC sales potential. "Our first Air-Ride system was designed for die-cast hoops, commented Bill Reim, Tama's Senior Marketing and Adverttising manager. "However, die-cast hoops are somewhat expensive, and some drummers still prefer triple flanged hoops. (98') Now more drummers can get the total resonace and great feel of the Air-Ride on their snare drums at a whole new affordable price."

No one has ever mentioned the limitation of drum depth useable on Air Ride. I guess you could flip the L-rod, but deeper means more unstable on this set up. They prolly figure it makes a 5" sound like a 9" so just accept it people. <Below from 95' catalog>

My dad has one of these and i use to play it with his Tama Artstar set back when. For me, it is absolute JUNK. The way the snare rides when its mounted makes it bounce like crazy! Not to mention the thing weighs twice as much as any snare stand i've ever used.

It's a great piece of kit. The sound opening up is something I could take or leave without caring much. It just feels better to play on one. I have had wrist problems in the past and this helps with absorbing the impact of rimshots big time.

It doesn't really make much difference at all while rolling since you're applying a more or less constant pressure. You learn to adapt to its movement quickly if you want to.

I just played a gretsch snare with one of these stands on the weekend... played it after with the normal stand and the sound was hugly noticeable. slightly more cut but alot more resonance. This is my next purchase for sure!